030715melniasami
arcaneArtisan2 AA began pestering tumblingThinker TT at 22:55 -- 10:55 AA: Sami, still looking for a place to fall asleep, walks into the gym. 10:56 TT: Melnia is in the middle of the room, doubled over, attempting to lift what must be the biggest weight in there. She is failing. The weght wont even budge 10:58 AA: "Um....hi. I don't think we've met. I'm Sami." 10:58 AA: "Are you from Nate's team?" 10:58 AA: "Do you need help with that?" 11:00 TT: Melnia yelps and stands straight up. She turns around quickly, and it is apparant that she was recently in water. "O-o-oh, h-hello! N-No, I w-was on K-Kate's team! N-Nice to meet you M-Miss Sami, I am M-Mary." 11:01 AA: "Wait, Mary as in Dean's daughter?" 11:01 AA: "You seemed so much more bold when we talked on Pesterchum!" 11:02 TT: "O-Oh, no, that is Mari. Our n-names are similar y-yes. I am J-Jossik's daughter" 11:02 AA: "Oh! I'm sorry. Nice to meet you Mary." 11:02 AA: "How did you know who I was?" 11:02 AA: (( Oops, sorry. )) 11:02 AA: (( Forgot I had introduced myself. )) 11:02 TT: "Y-You said you w-were Sami" 11:02 AA: (( Strike that last line )) 11:02 TT: ((lol)) 11:02 AA: (( Or not. )) 11:02 TT: ((Oh sorry)) 11:02 AA: "Oh, god, I'm sorry. I haven't slept in like two days because I can't find a spare room on this base." 11:03 AA: "And Doir totally failed trying to get me into Commander Heston's room." 11:03 TT: "I-If you need a r-room, y-you can use mine! I c-can probably find a couch somewhere.." 11:03 AA: "It was a lot easier to go days at a time without sleeping when I was 13....but then again I had reasons to avoid sleeping then." 11:04 AA: "Oh, no, I couldn't kick you out of your room Mary! It's fine. If your team is back it means Ryspor should be back, too, so I might just see if he can send me back to the Ark." 11:04 TT: "O-Oh, d-do you suffer f-from night t-terrors? I-If you do, I c-could try to help.." 11:05 AA: "I used to. Well, kind of. It's over now though." 11:05 AA: Sami sighs and looks a little pained as if remembering some long-gone trumble. 11:05 AA: Trauma, rather. 11:06 TT: "O-Oh, w-what ever h-happened, I-I'm glad it's over, if it w-was troubling you" 11:10 AA: "Yeah, I'd say it was pretty flipping troubling. But when we killed my dreamself Jack couldn't do things to her anymore, so I actually get some peace now." 11:11 TT: "J-Jack d-did things to your.. what? Dreamself? O-Oh dear, I'm so s-sorry M-Miss Sami" 11:12 AA: "Yeah. It was 'punishment' for Kate using Time to heal my leg." 11:12 AA: "He made me choose whether I would pay the price or Kate would. I chose me." 11:13 TT: "D-Despite what he d-did for me, I h-have heard nothing b-but bad things about him.." Melnia's face turns worried 11:13 AA: "So he nabbed my dreamself while I was awake and stuck her in a looping 'perfect moment of agony' where she couldn't die but still felt like she was dying permanently." 11:14 TT: "Th-Th-That's awful!! O-Oh M-Miss Sami, I-I'm so sorry" 11:14 AA: "It's okay. It's over now." 11:14 AA: "But yeah. That's the sort of thing we're talking about when we say how bad Jack is." 11:15 AA: (( Incidentally, is she presenting as human right now? )) 11:15 TT: ((Yes, at the moment)) 11:15 AA: (( Kay. )) 11:16 TT: "H-How awful, m-maybe I really should ditch this headband t-then" 11:16 AA: "Why? Did he give it to you?" 11:16 TT: "Y-Yes.." She removes the headband, turning back into a troll 11:17 AA: "Oh wow!" Sami jumps back, a little startled. 11:17 TT: "Y-Yes.. I know.." Melnia looks at the ground in shame 11:18 AA: "Do you....not like being a troll?" Sami sounds confused. 11:20 TT: "I-I'm n-n-not a troll, I w-was b-born in the w-wrong b-body.." Melnia's lower lip is starting to quiver, but it's obvious she's trying to fight it back 11:20 AA: "Oh..." Sami looks ashamed of herself. "I'm sorry, I....didn't realize that was a thing." 11:21 AA: "And Jack gave you a magical item that lets you look on the outside the way you feel on the inside, huh?" Her tone of voice sounds exhausted. 11:22 TT: "Y-Yes, but everyone is s-saying h-how awful h-he is, S-so I r-really should get rid of it.." 11:23 AA: Sami sighs. "Yeah, I don't know. I could look it over for you to make sure it's not full of dark majjykks or anything, but I did that for Rubi and there wasn't anything there." 11:24 AA: "I think his plan might be different this time around. I think he's trying to get you guys to trust him by being nice to you. There may really be nothing wrong with these 'presents.' I'm nervous about you guys keeping them, but I would also hate to be the one to tell you that you had to get rid of something that I'm sure means a lot to you." 11:26 TT: "I-I-I am the S-Sylph of H-Heart, a s-sylphs d-duty is t-to put o-others before h-herself. I-If this h-headband w-would hurt m-me or others, I h-have no choice but to g-get rid of it" 11:32 AA: "'Physician, heal thyself.'" 11:32 TT: "Wh-What?" 11:32 AA: "A dead sylph, or even just one who's dead inside, is no good to anyone Melnia." 11:32 AA: "I'm sorry. Mary." 11:32 AA: (( Sorry, she didn't even say Melnia )) 11:33 AA: (( That was my mistake, not Sami's. )) 11:39 TT: Melnia quickly wipes her eyes. "I-It's too l-late for me to n-not be good for a-anyone. Th-That's why I'm here. To b-become stronger. I w-want to start being g-good for people! A-Are you s-saying I should k-keep J-Jack's g-gift t-to do that?" 11:39 AA: "Not necessarily. I'm just saying it's okay to think about yourself sometimes." 11:39 AA: "Because you need to be at your best to do your best for others." 11:40 AA: "It can't be all give, even if you're a Sylph." 11:43 TT: "Th-Then what do I do? H-How do I know the d-difference between th-thinking about m-myself and b-being selfish?" 11:44 AA: Sami shrugs. "That's something everyone has to ask themselves, I think. Not just Sylphs. I'm a Witch and I have to ask that all the time." 11:48 TT: "I-I thought I w-was signing up f-for a v-video game, not n-near d-death experiences and l-life lessons" 11:49 AA: "Yeah. Me too." Sami sits down next to Melnia. "I just wanted to play a fun game with my friends since I had never met them in person." 11:49 AA: "I didn't even really care about the game as much as I did getting the chance to play with them." 11:50 AA: "The cynical part of me, and I don't know if there even WAS a cynical part of me until I started playing this game, thinks the game LIKES to find people like you and me, because it enjoys trying to break us." 11:50 AA: "It succeeded on me for a while. But I've rebuilt myself stronger than before. And maybe it'll break me again, but I don't intend to let it. I think that's the biggest victory you can get in this game." 11:51 TT: "If that's the game, g-guess I'm the one who g-got played" 11:52 AA: "We all got played." 11:52 TT: "H-How d-did you d-do it? I th-think I would like to r-rebuild myself t-too, s-so I can be s-stronger" 11:53 AA: "I think part of the reason this game goes after kids is that growing up is supposed to be part of it." 11:53 AA: "And I think that means destroying a lot of innocence in the process." Sami's voice gets sad. 11:54 TT: "O-Oh..." 11:57 TT: "That's too m-mean.. I'd like to have a t-talk with the game c-company who m-made this" 11:58 AA: "I'll let you know if I manage to find anything out about the origins of the game." 11:59 AA: "But I don't know how forthcoming my sources will be." She sighs. 12:00 AA: "Nor even if they'll know." 12:00 TT: "I-If you are f-from a seperate universe.. T-This game spans millenia and generations.. I-It might be impossible to trackdown the source of this m-monstrosity.." 12:01 AA: Sami nods. "Possibly. It sort of depends how far reaching the information network of one of my informants is. It is potentially vaster than you can imagine." 12:01 AA: "But I have no idea what the turnaround time is, and whether or not my informant is willing to go to the trouble of tracking down the info for me." 12:02 AA: "It might be that I won't find out until a hundred sessions from now." 12:06 TT: "Y-Your i-informants? A-Are you like, a 'super spy" or s-something, heheh" 12:06 AA: "More like a Ezekiel Norton (talk)spooky witchEzekiel Norton (talk)!" Sami makes wiggly "spooky fingers" when she says this. 12:10 TT: Melnia giggles. "Well, if you have so many informants, maybe you can h-help me w-with something. I truly w-would like to become stronger, and part of that is w-working out and stuff, d-do you know anyone who c-can help me with that?" 12:19 AA: "Hmm. Ryspor had to do a lot of training to try to fill Libby's Primer, I know. And Nate's always been really physical." 12:19 AA: "But believe it or not, I might be able to help a little! My dad made me go through 'basic training' like every morning for the first thirteen years of my life." 12:20 TT: "Hmm, father m-maybe, and I c-can try and f-find N-Nate.." 12:20 TT: "Y-You c-could?!" 12:21 AA: "I mean it's been a few years since I've been through an obstacle course....but yeah. Maybe it would be nice to go through it again." 12:22 AA: "Actually, if you like, I could see if the Colonelsprite will train you! He was teaching Beau chess boxing for a while. And he was a Colonel, so he knows how to train up raw recruits!" 12:24 TT: "T-Training from the w-would be C-Commander H-Heston.. a-and the c-colonel H-Heston.. I sh-should treasure th-this, I s-suspect it will be the only time this game will let the solution f-fall in my lap.." 12:25 AA: "Oh, no, don't get ahead of yourself! I'm not like the so-called 'Horntaker.' I'm an artist, and a bookworm, lately. I'm not a soldier in the least." 12:25 AA: "But my dad was, and I can at least show you a little bit of what he used to put me through. It's just rudimentary stuff." 12:26 TT: "I-In a way, that's even b-better.. The H-Horntaker w-was so v-violent in the b-battlefield, y-you at least seem like you w-wouldn't steal m-my horns if I f-failed your T-Training" 12:32 AA: Sami shakes her head with a grimace. "I can't believe she does that. It seems so mean!" 12:34 TT: "The b-battlefield always s-seemed t-too mean.. t-taking t-trophies f-from y-your victims.." 12:35 AA: "I don't even feel that great about killing imps! Much less trolls." 12:35 TT: "I-Imps?" 12:37 AA: "Yeah, they're monsters the game throws at us, powered up by the things we prototyped before entering the game." 12:37 AA: "Although weirdly, I didn't see any at all on LOCAR." 12:37 AA: "Did you guys not run into any either?" 12:37 TT: "W-We definitely s-saw monsters.." 12:38 TT: "I w-wasn't exxagerating when I m-mentioned near death experiences" 12:38 TT: "B-But n-nothing classified as an "imp"" 12:38 AA: "Strange. All sorts of weird things in this session." 12:39 AA: "I wonder if we've just been lucky, or if the imps are absent from this session..." 12:39 AA: "And if that even counts as lucky if it's true. Without imps, we're not getting grist which stops us from doing alchemy..." 12:40 TT: "Y-You saw i-imps on y-your worlds, r-right?" 12:40 TT: "Wh-Why not go fight those?" 12:40 AA: "We could. Although I didn't see any on LOGAT when I was there." 12:40 AA: "But I was running solo on LOGAT and keeping a low profile." 12:41 AA: "Especially because our imps were a little outrageous." 12:41 AA: "I still don't know if we could beat them." 12:42 TT: "I-I'd be h-happy to cheer you on if the f-fight gets too hard!" 12:43 AA: Sami smiles. "Thanks. You'd be surprised how much a difference that can make, actually! But I don't know if it'll actually be enough, in this case. Our imps were....well let's just say we made some bad choices in prototypes." 12:43 AA: "And I suspect interference from twinks made it even worse." 12:44 TT: "Prototypes?" 12:44 TT: "I can barely remember what I prototyped actually.." 12:44 TT: "A Shrek d-doll of some sort, and a b-bull's ring" 12:45 AA: "That doesn't sound too bad at first blush. It's tough to tell sometimes though. My then-girlfriend prototyped a chess piece, and it ended up being one of the most powerful prototypes we saw." 12:47 TT: "Heheh, p-perhaps the imps will smell o-of onions" 12:49 AA: "You know, Mary, you remind me a lot of me when I first started this game." Sami smiles when she says this, but there's a sadness in her eyes. 12:51 TT: "I-I do? Th-Then maybe there is h-hope for me yet" 12:52 AA: Sami's still frowning, and the look is looking more like pity now than sadness. 12:53 AA: (( Or rather, Sami's smile turns into a frown. )) 12:53 AA: "Yeah....there's hope. But I just hope the game doesn't do to you what it did to me." 12:55 TT: "Maybe it w-will.. but all I can do is b-be ready to get b-back up when I'm kn-knocked over. And m-maybe I could turn to m-my friends for guidance, wh-when I need it" 12:57 AA: Sami nods, and smiles again. "Yeah, that's the thing that kept me going, too. And as long as the game doesn't kill me, always remember there's someone here who went through the same sorts of things you're going through, who can at least pat your hand and tell you that you'll make it through." 12:57 AA: She shakes her head sadly. "I don't know for sure that I can protect you guys from that sort of thing. The Game is stronger than any of us. But I'll do my best." 12:59 TT: "The best is all anyone can do, a-and if w all w-work together, it sh-should be enough" 01:01 AA: Sami looks away, still somewhat sad, as though she can't keep making eye contact through this. "....yeah." 01:01 TT: "M-Miss Sami, are you alright?" 01:01 AA: She sighs, and then looks back. "At any rate, it definitely won't work if we *don't* work together. So we've got to keep being a team." 01:02 AA: Sami shakes her head. "It's okay. It's just that sounded so much like something the old me would've said." 01:03 AA: "Listen, Mary....if you find any books on majjykk, or have a chance to make bargains with powerful entities you barely understand..." 01:03 AA: Sami trails off and thinks about what she's going to say for a minute, then sighs and continues. "Just don't make any decisions lightly, okay?" 01:04 AA: "Sometimes you can't take back a decision, and sometimes they have bigger consequences than you realize at the time." 01:04 TT: "Y-Yes, I understand." 01:04 TT: "I will t-try to think b-before I l-leap" 01:04 AA: "Heh. Sorry. I'm probably coming off all spooky and terrifying." 01:04 AA: "I guess this must be what Libby felt like when she met me." 01:04 AA: "Feels weird to be on the other side of that conversation. But I guess I'd better get used to it." 01:06 TT: "You aren't spooky or terrifying Miss Sami. You just strike me as s-someone who's trying her best, e-even when the world fights against her. And y-you've learned a lot, the h-hard way, and now you're trying to spare me from the same f-fate" 01:07 TT: "That's a v-very noble thing, n-not spooky at all!" 01:09 AA: Sami blushes a little. "Oh....thank you. When I tell you kids about the game I always feel like such a buzzkill." 01:09 TT: "B-Brutal consequences w-would be way w-worse than an informative t-talk" 01:10 AA: Sami nods. "And they can be pretty brutal." 01:14 TT: "Th-Thank you for all your advice Sami, I-I will be sure to remember it" 01:15 AA: "No problem. Now if you want to go ahead with this training--I've got flying lessons with Jackjack and Mahtah first thing in the morning, so we might have to get started a little later than the Colonel would've let me get away with. 01:16 AA: "I *could* get Colonelsprite to fill in for me, there, but....I don't know if that would be awkward for you considering you've never met him before." 01:16 TT: "Y-You aren't g-gonna install a trumpet alarm in my r-room are you?" 01:17 AA: "I mean honestly I could probably just put a hex on your room to do it without an alarm at all." 01:17 AA: "But I don't think I'm going to do that just yet." 01:17 AA: "It feels a little mean." 01:17 TT: "Th-That isn't very reassuring" 01:21 TT: "B-But I believe you, th-thanks again M-Miss Sami! I c-can't wait for t-training, but I sh-should probably be g-going" 01:22 AA: "Okay, Have a good night." Category:Sami Category:Melnia